.......it would probably boast it invented romance." - Bern Williams
We’re excited to be re-opening from Friday 29th May, after 9 weeks of missing chatting to our lovely customers. Our usual opening hours will apply. Please follow strict 2m social distancing to protect yourselves and us. Hand sanitiser and wipes are available and the card machine and baskets will be wiped down. We’ll be limiting the number of customers in the sales area and introducing a one-way system. The gardens are really coming to life now and we have two new gardens for you to see. The railway garden completes the middle terrace and the orchard at the end of the stock beds is now open, with lots of lovely Apple blossom. We’ve added more borders, there’s lots of new plants for sale and newts and tadpoles to spot in the wildlife pond.
See you soon 🌻🌱🌷
Finally the weather reached the point where it was safe to bring our annuals out the tunnel for sale and get them planted in the nursery garden. There are only a few of some and lots of others. I had vole problems along the way in the poly tunnel which has never been an issue, but we got there in the end. All seeds were either organic or vintage and heirloom or biodynamic. Helping preserve rare and interesting varieties for future generations. They are sold in strips of at least 3 plants, usually more, £2.00 a strip.
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| The common lizard we found on our walk on Tuesday |
The other new garden David developed when he was off is the orchard at the far end of the stock beds. He has strimmed down the weeds and long grass several times and then he was finally able to get the lawn mower over it. It will take a while to get it to decent grass, but it is possible. The existing apple trees give some height and I've planted a medlar, crab apples and a variety of climbers along the fence and a few shrubs. I am planning a border along the side of the thuya hedge on the left side full of perennials. The second picture is the view across the nursery gardens, we have put a bench here so customers can sit in the sun and enjoy the view.
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| We also have damsel flies on the wildllife pond now |
In keeping with the amazing weather, cacti and succulents are now out in the sales area. These are propagated from my own collection, so vary year to year. This year worth pointing out is Bulbine frutescens, a multi branched succulent with gorgeous orange and yellow flowers, the sap of the leaf is excellent for burns, skin irritations, etc, in the same way as Aloe is used. Also new this year is Crassula 'Hottentot', a hanging succulent with small pale pink flowers in spring.
David managed to catch one of the newts in the wildlife pond and confirmed they are palmate newts. We also planted some newt friendly plants for them to lay their eggs on and some iris for dragon fly larvae to use to emerge from the pond
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| Placing new plants in the wild life garden pond |
Our Saturday night treat last week was a cheesy treat from The Cheese Board, delivered to the nursery in the afternoon with a couple of wee bottles merlot. Along with a three cheese loaf picked up on the way home, a perfect summer evening dinner
Wow! The weather has been amazing over the past week. It was a bit of a struggle keeping everything watered, but such amazing weather we've had this year already. The gardens are colouring up and the Lupins are doing their show off display and the heat was too much for some. A new bench to sit on, made entirely from pieces of wood we had lying around, Cow parlsey and the pink border looking fab.Thank you to everyone who came along last weekend. We were delighted to see lots of familiar faces and new customers too. Hearing everyone raving about the nursery and gardens and enjoying their visit made us very happy, thank you.
Useful Plants from the garden - Alchemilla alpina
Alpine
lady's-mantle is an arctic-montane herbaceous perennial plant native to Europe and Southern
Greenland. It has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy and is used in horticulture as a ground cover and in rock gardens.
Growing to a height of between 5 and 20 cm (2 and 8 in),
stems are silkily hairy and grow from a basal rosette. The leaves are palmate
with about seven leaflets which are densely hairy underneath. Flowers are
lime green with four sepals, no petals, four stamens and a solitary carpel.
They are hermaphrodite and the seeds develop without being fertilised. The
flowers begin to bloom in June and fade in September.
Lady’s
mantle has a centuries long history of herbal use. Externally it was used to treat
cuts and wounds, given its astringent
and styptic properties, on account of the tannin it contains. It is 'of a very
drying and binding character' as the old herbalists expressed it and was
formerly considered one of the best vulneraries or wound herbs. Internally it has
been used in the treatment of diarrhoea, and many women’s ailments, mainly menstrual.
Culpepper
says of it:
“Lady's
Mantle is very proper for inflamed wounds and to stay bleeding, vomitings,
fluxes of all sorts, bruises by falls and ruptures. It is one of the most
singular wound herbs and therefore highly prized and praised, used in all
wounds inward and outward, to drink a decoction thereof and wash the wounds
therewith, or dip tents therein and put them into the wounds which wonderfully
drieth up all humidity of the sores and abateth all inflammations thereof. It
quickly healeth green wounds, not suffering any corruption to remain behind and
cureth old sores, though fistulous and hollow.”
In modern herbal treatment, it is employed as a cure for excessive
menstruation and is taken internally as an infusion 1 oz. of the dried herb to
1 pint of boiling water) in teacupful doses as required and the same infusion
is also employed as an injections.
The freshly pressed juice is used to help heal skin trouble such as acne.
#I haven’ tried any of the herbal uses of this plant so cannot say
whether they work, as always it is good to do some research or buy ready
prepared products from a reputable herbalist
We stretched our wings slightly on our day off and drove the 7 miles down to St Mary's loch for a picnic and a paddle. The weather was still hot but not so sunny. It was lovely to see a different view, much as I love where we live and work, its been a long 10 weeks. Bracken enjoyed a paddle too and sharing our picnic.
#rural #countrylife #countryliving #cottagelife #antiquecottagescenes #interiors #scottishborders #independantretailer #smallbusiness #localbusiness #independantplantnursery #uniqueplantnursery #hardyscottishplants #scottishgarden #gardeningontheedge #scottishborders
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Find out more about the nursery here - our web site: www.quercusgardenplants.co.uk
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